Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Oil Trades With a $90 Handle on Supply Data, Iran Happy Talk

WTI $90.16 down $1.69.
From the Wall Street Journal:

Oil Falls on Supply Gains, Iran Talks and Euro Tumult 
Crude-oil futures fell on Wednesday as hopes of a deal between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency eased global supply concerns and the prospects for a Greek euro exit fueled expectations for weaker oil demand.

The latest U.S. government figures on petroleum supplies released Wednesday also added pressure to oil prices. The Energy Information Administration reported a climb in last week's crude supplies that was slightly above market expectations.

In recent trading, crude for July delivery fell $1.30, or 1.4%, to $90.55 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. On Tuesday, the June crude contract, which expired at the end of that session, lost 1.1%.
"It's a double-barrel shotgun of downward oil price pressure," said Seth Rabinowitz, who covers commodities as a partner at Silicon Associates.

"There is now a full expectation of an agreement with Iran to scale back its nuclear activities, with that expectation supporting the supply side," he said. At the same time, "there is still considerable oil selling on tremendous continuing sovereign debt uncertainty stemming from Greece and broader Europe."...MORE
...On Wednesday, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported a 900,000 barrel climb in U.S. crude supplies for the week ended May 18.

Motor gasoline supplies fell 3.3 million barrels, while distillate stocks edged lower by 300,000 barrels in the latest week, the EIA report said.

Analysts polled by Platts had forecast a rise of 750,000 barrels in crude-oil supplies. They also expected a fall of 200,000 barrels for gasoline stocks and a decline of 350,000 barrels in supplies of distillates, which include heating oil....

Double Barrel?
It's more like this bespoke McFarlaine:

. 3 barrelled ornate shotgun